An early Christmas gift to myself

Despite that setback, I returned to small game hunting with gusto, hoping perhaps to make up for some of the disappointment.

I helped out that cause this past weekend, just in time for a pre-Christmas present for myself.

After an enjoyable visit from my daughter and her family last week, I had a day off and a little time to myself Friday. So naturally I grabbed my shotgun, piled the dogs in the car and headed south of the border for some Pennsylvania pheasant hunting.

It didn't take long to get into the action. I knew the state Game Commission had recently done its final pheasant release of the season on area state game lands, so I wasn't surprised when Malibu and R.J. started getting birdy almost as soon as I let them out of the car.

I followed the dogs across the field and when we got close to the woods, several hen pheasants suddenly erupted into the air.

My wing shooting must have been rusty after several weeks stalking deer with a rifle, as I shot at two of the birds and missed.

As I was watching where they flew, I spotted another hen sneaking through the weeds in front of me. The dogs were already moving down the field to pursue the other birds, so I charged the hen hoping to trigger a flush.

The bird did take to the air, and this time my aim was true. I called Malibu back to recover the hen and we moved on.

I was confident with all the hens we flushed that we would find at least a few of them a second time, but we only located one, and it flushed on the wrong side of a hedgerow.

We moved over to a field where I had spotted a cock pheasant while deer hunting a few weeks earlier. It was walking along a hedgerow that separated the field from a big cornfield, and I was hoping maybe he was still hanging around.

As luck would have it, I was right. The dogs poked around excitedly in the hedgerow, and I tightened my grip on my Winchester 12-gauge. Sure enough, the cackling rooster burst from the hedgerow and crossed high in front of me. He folded up when I shot, but hit the ground running.

Thankfully Malibu was on the case and she chased him across the field before corralling him.

I put pheasants No. 18 and 19 in the game bag Friday.(Photo11: JEFF MURRAY PHOTO)

Those birds were not only my first of the late season, but also my 18th and 19th pheasants of 2017, representing a new single season best for me.

Since I paid a lot more for a nonresident license in Pennsylvania than I did for my New York license, I was glad I was able to bag them in the Keystone State and get a little more value for my investment.

We had more family over to the house Saturday, but Sunday afternoon I managed to sneak out for a few hours of bird hunting on the New York side.

This time we didn't have any luck, but at least we put a little time in while the weather was still reasonable.

I might not have any fresh venison in the freezer this time, but thankfully I have plenty of pheasants waiting to be turned into delicious meals.

I was fortunate to put two more pheasants in the game bag over the weekend.(Photo11: JEFF MURRAY PHOTO)